174 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



corn meal. It has been settled that a bushel will yield sixteen quarts of 

 molasses, and when twelve quarts only were extracted the quality was 

 equal to sugar refiners' syrup tliat is now selling at $1.75 per gallon. 



Prof. Mapes. — At one of the early fairs of the American Institute I 

 exhibited several specimens of sugar made from corn, corn stalks, woody 

 fibre, &c., but they were proved to be grape and not cane sugar. In damp 

 weather it is so hydroscopic that dry sugar softens into a wet mass. It is 

 a poor substitute fur cane sugar. 



There is nothing new in the matter. At the present high price of sugar 

 it ma}- be made to pay a profit. 



Strawberries. 



Mr. H. A. Catlin, Gerry, Chautauqua county, N. Y., says: " I picked 

 seven bushels of strawberries this season from two and a half rods of 

 ground. The most of them were set in June 1863, in old garden soil, only 

 manured with ashes. They were tilled perfectly, not a weed allowed to 

 grow, and mulched in autumn. During the drouth they were well wa.;ered. 

 I picked one day forty-two quarts, and fifty of the largest berries filled a 

 cubic quart measure. The variety was Wilson's seedling, the most pro- 

 fitable for general cultivation." 



Cranberries in the Garden, 



Mr. Catlin says: "I set cranberry plants last Spring upon dry sandy 

 loam garden soil, treating them like strawberries, and they grew finely 

 and produced some specimens of fruit. 



Broom-Corn Seed for Sheep. 



Mr. L. Farnswortn, of Sullivan, Ohio, says that Mr. Cipher, of Ashland 

 count}', Ohio, has for several j^ears past, during the Winter season, fed his 

 sheep corn or oats daily, and has usually found a large number of ticks on 

 them at the shearing season. But for the last two or three years he has 

 substituted broom-corn seed instead of other grain. The result is the ticks 

 have disappeared, and his sheep are vigorous and healthy. 



Now, if any of the Farmer's Club have had experience in feeding this 

 kind of grain, some of us here in the West would like to be infomed of the 

 results. If it is a fact that this kind of feed is a preventive of this evil, 

 perhaps some one may be able to tell us why it is so. 



Adjourned. John W. Chambers, Secretary, 



December 6, 1864. 

 Prof. Samuel D. Tillman in the chair. 



Lands and Climate of Maryland. 



The Chairman introduced to the Club Prof Baer of Maryland, who said: 

 It is more important to one buying a farm to know the composition of the 

 subsoil than to know that of the surface. 



If he did not look to that he might as well buy when the farm was cov- 

 ered with snow as at any other tirue. Do not trust to surface appearance. 



